Posted by MikeT23 on 11/13/2012 8:32:00 PM (view original):Seems to me that Toronto recognizes that the Yanks will likely take a step back, question whether Balt was real, knows Boston sucks balls and think it's time to strike. NY/Boston won't be down forever.

I think they could have overpaid for Sanchez and Marcum and the deals would have looked better. We'll see what those guys sign. You guys may be right about Andrus, but picking up Reyes, who signed a contract that maximized his value in his first year, is very short-sighted. Johnson was average last year with a dropping strikeout rate, and was out most of the year before. There's certainly value in picking him up for 1 year at 13 mil, but he comes with significant risk. The move makes sense, they improved their roster a lot for this year, but it's not going to rank high among most baseball savvy moves of the year, so Anthropolous shouldn't be praised as executive of the year for his owner increasing payroll. Also consider that if teams signed a bunch of free agents to backloaded deals, traded them to a sucker that wanted to pick up their contracts for a nice batch of prospects, and then went out and signed another bunch of free agents to backloaded deals, it would be a foolproof strategy. The Marlins' crop of free agents were no special group, the contracts were not praised at the time of being bargains and nothing about last year made them look better.

The Jays' farm system has been loaded up for the past few seasons for EXACTLY this type of move, so to say they paid too much is ridiculous. Jays fans have been fed what was assumed to be a line by the brain trust in the front office that when the time was right money would be spent ... Preparations were made to accommodate a move like this and now they have followed through on promises. And guess what? We STILL have a solid farm system plus some top of the line players to bolster the big league lineup.

Not of the "more prudent and intelligent" alternatives put forth in this thread come remotely close to the quality of lineup that we have now ... Are you seriously trying to contend that a rotation where you're relying on Marcum as a #2 is better than Johnson/Beuhrle/Morrow/Romero? Come on ... Go sell that kool aid somewhere else. It is time to stop trying to be frugal and piecing together a wanna-be lineup and delivering a top drawer lineup like the one we seem to be looking at now for '13. I am excited again for the first time since '93

They gave up good players, but not their best prospects, so really I think everyone wins. I mean, in the short term, Miami loses. Like 100-110 times. Unless they use the savings to really remake that team in the Free Agent market, which I don't think they'll do again.

Boston is down, the Yanks are talking about cutting payroll, who knows if Baltimore is real and Tampa could go in either direction. Now is the time for Toronto to take a shot. The window won't stay open forever.

Since Atlanta lost a CF, is waiting to see how McCann bounces from surgery, and are down on Hanson, the Blue Jays will trade them Rasmus and Arrencibia for Hanson. Then they'll flip Buerhle to the Twins for Morneau. And follow all that up by signing Josh Hamilton.

Since Atlanta lost a CF, is waiting to see how McCann bounces from surgery, and are down on Hanson, the Blue Jays will trade them Rasmus and Arrencibia for Hanson. Then they'll flip Buerhle to the Twins for Morneau. And follow all that up by signing Josh Hamilton.

Posted by smeric on 11/13/2012 11:39:00 PM (view original):The Jays' farm system has been loaded up for the past few seasons for EXACTLY this type of move, so to say they paid too much is ridiculous. Jays fans have been fed what was assumed to be a line by the brain trust in the front office that when the time was right money would be spent ... Preparations were made to accommodate a move like this and now they have followed through on promises. And guess what? We STILL have a solid farm system plus some top of the line players to bolster the big league lineup.

Not of the "more prudent and intelligent" alternatives put forth in this thread come remotely close to the quality of lineup that we have now ... Are you seriously trying to contend that a rotation where you're relying on Marcum as a #2 is better than Johnson/Beuhrle/Morrow/Romero? Come on ... Go sell that kool aid somewhere else. It is time to stop trying to be frugal and piecing together a wanna-be lineup and delivering a top drawer lineup like the one we seem to be looking at now for '13. I am excited again for the first time since '93